Recipe

Adrienne's Rustic Chicken Liver Pate With Crostini

Ingredients

One and one-half pounds chicken livers
3 eggs
One-fourth cup heavy cream
2 bacon slices, blanched and chopped
2 tablespoons chopped apples
2 tablespoons chopped onions, sautÈed
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 egg
3 tablespoons brandy
2 tablespoons port wine
One-half cup flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons salt
One-half freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 truffles, minced
4 to 5 lean bacon slices, blanched
20 crostini (French bread slices deep-fried in extra-virgin olive oil until lightly browned)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Divide the chicken livers into three equal parts. Mix the first part briefly in a blender with two of the eggs. Blend the second part with the cream. Then blend the third part with the chopped bacon, an egg, the brandy, port and flour. Mix the three blends very quickly with the ginger, salt, black pepper, nutmeg, and truffles. Place the mixture in a greased loaf pan and top with the bacon slices. Cover the baking pan tightly with foil and place it in half its depth of boiling water in a larger pan. Bake about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the internal temperature is 180º. After the paté cools, remove some of the fat from the top if needed. Serve the paté cold on the hot crostini: the crisp hot crunch of the crostini will lead the way to the savory velvet of the paté. Utterly seductive.